The Penny Quandary
by Kebeii
Summary: Shenny, They love each other, they just don't know it yet. (rated M for future chapters) enjoy x Please leave feedback, it is always appreciated x
1. Chapter 1

**The Penny Quandary**

**Saturday Night, 8:15pm**

Sheldon was a creature of habit, this morning he had had his usual cereal with a specific amount of milk and a specific type of milk, he had eaten his breakfast whilst watching Doctor Who; like he did every Saturday morning.

The events that followed would often change, depending on who was about and what was happening in the world.

Today Sheldon had had a fairly relaxed day, working on various projects, beat Leonard at a game of chess and had read a couple of comic books; it wasn't as eventful as last Saturday. Last Saturday Sheldon had been dragged around a supermarket with Penny, which he found immensely tedious; but he had been rewarded for accompanying the woman, she had cooked him spaghetti with cut up hotdogs for lunch, his favourite, and to his surprise Penny cooked wonderful spaghetti. Whilst eating the two of them had a discussion latest Star Trek movie, Penny hadn't seen the movies, nor had she seen much of the original series, but said that she had been researching the latest version of Star Trek and Sheldon had been giving her a very detailed description of all the main character, Penny had listened and asked appropriate, intelligent questions and the meal had gone exceptionally well, Sheldon had even broken his 'no alcohol' rule and had had a tiny sip of Penny's wine before going back to his diet coke.

Tonight the boys had arranged to watch the latest Star Trek movies, dressed as characters from the movie; this of course had Sheldon excited as he had been the one to suggest the idea, after his talk over lunch with Penny, besides he loved dressing up, and as usual he was dressing up as Spock, it was only logical.

Before the films could commence however Sheldon had to deal with his laundry, and as 8:15 approached the physicist picked up his basket and headed for the door; the others we getting changed into their costumes and making all the appropriate adjustments and alterations, it had been awhile since they last wore the costumes, Sheldon had already adjusted his costume earlier in the week, not that the changes were drastic in any way, Sheldon hadn't gained any weight and was still as tall as he had been the last time he had worn the costume, at the renaissance fair.

Penny walked out of her apartment as Sheldon had exited his, holding her basket of dirty laundry.

"Hey Sheldon, do you mind if I join you?" Sheldon was momentarily stunned before giving Penny his best smile.

"I don't see why not." He stepped aside to let Penny down the stairs first, noting how little laundry the woman had to do. "Did you forget half your laundry?" he asked, making an effort to talk about something, although he was actually intrigued to know why she was about to waste water on such a small amount of dirty clothes, clothes he hadn't seen her wear recently, but this was Penny, they had probably been lost in the mess she calls home.

"Um…no, I need these clothes…for tomorrow," she said, smiling; she should have grabbed more clothes. "Can we share a washing machine?" she suddenly turned around, causing Sheldon to stumble into her, he quickly grabbing her arm to stop her falling over, his basket of washing slipping from his hands as he pulled Penny close to him.

"Penny I am so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Penny frowned, blinking at him as he pushed her back slightly. It wasn't like Sheldon to blame himself for an accident like this; he was always quick to point fingers and insult people for been so stupid…usually everything was Penny's fault.

"Why are you apologising? I'm the one who made you drop it, I'm sorry." They both looked at each other, Penny's heart fluttered as they stared, the silence stretching; Sheldon was the first to move, beginning to pick up his washing, a slight blush on his cheeks, Penny bent down to help, roughly folding the physicist's clothes for him as she placed them in her basket; the two of them stood up, looking at each other. Another awkward silence passed between them before Sheldon spoke.

"In response to your request Penny, I will allow you to share my washing machine, just this once as I hate to waste water." The woman thanked her neighbour, following him into the laundry room. "And we have to use my washing powder." Penny rolled her eyes agreeing.

The washing machine was on and the two neighbours left it running, heading back upstairs, the timer on the machine said the wash would only take thirty minutes, the two had decided that the clothes weren't particularly dirty, and Sheldon was in a hurry to get dressed for the movies.

"Say Penny, what are you up to tonight?" Sheldon asked as they were walking back up to their apartments. Penny thought for a moment.

"Well I have a date with my couch and a bottle of wine!" she smiled, clapping her hands together. She had nothing interesting planned, no dates, no friends, no nothing…she sighed as she thought about it.

"Well how about, you come over to my place and watch Star Trek?" Penny looked up at Sheldon, who was swaying, his hands behind his back. "But you have to dress up as a character," Sheldon smiled, for once he was making an effort.

"You're inviting me over to join you?"

"That's what I was asking…do you want to join me?" Penny laughed.

"Of course, I would love to Sheldon, thank you!" Penny smiled, patting the man on the shoulder before running up the rest of the stairs, tripping as she hurried, leaving Sheldon to look after her before continuing to his apartment.

Penny quickly shut her door, locking it so no one could come in, running into her bedroom to find her Starfleet Uniform she had brought off the internet a few days ago; she had originally brought it because she wanted to surprise the guys at the next fancy dress party, and she was excited to show off her new found interest in their movie obsessions, of course this was after her long discussion with Sheldon.

Penny tied her hair up in a high ponytail, slipping the dress over her head before concentrating on make-up, nothing too fancy; once she had finished with her make-up she began looking for the boots the dress had come with, maybe the boy's geekiness was rubbing off onto her because she was genuinely excited about watching the movies, hopefully she would be able to stay awake throughout the two movies.

When she looked back at the clock it was 8:50, and she quickly jumped up, unlocking her door, sprinting down the stairs and into the laundry room. She stopped when she saw Sheldon in his Spock uniform, she could tell from the way his ears were pointed, and his blue, tight uniform. Penny lingered in the doorway, Sheldon hadn't realised her presence yet and she watched the man folding her clothes with his clothes folder.

"Shacha Spock!" Penny finally said, hoping that Google had given her the correct translation. Sheldon jumped, turning to look at the woman, doing a double-take, staring a little too long. "Dif-tor heh smusma, Spohkh." Penny held up her hand in the 'Vulcan salute' position. Sheldon continued to stare, before doing the hand salute himself.

"You look lovely as always, Uhura." Sheldon attempted a wink in Penny's direction, smiling at her; the woman was flattered that he knew who she was, although Uhura was the only female character Penny knew of, after Sheldon had gone on about Spock and her been in a relationship. "When did you decide to research the Vulcan language, I thought you had no interest in our childish ways." Only then did Sheldon notice the scribble of black ink across Penny's palm, she had written down how to pronounce what she had just said, he smiled, before continuing to fold Penny's things.

"If I had no interest in them I wouldn't have agreed to tonight." Penny smiled, walking over to Sheldon. "Thank you for folding my clothes." She reached out, stroking his arm, he seemed not to care.

"You're very welcome, I didn't want them to get creased, and besides, we have eight more minutes before we watch Star Trek."

Sheldon continued to fold the clothes, he even showed Penny how to fold his clothes using his clothes folder, Penny found this very amusing, annoying Sheldon on purpose by tucking his socks into one another, watching him huff as he separated them and lay them out ready to fold.

"Do you think I look ok?" Penny finally asked as they placed their clean washing into their baskets, ready to transport upstairs.

"As always Penny you look very beautiful, the outfit suits you." That was the biggest compliment Penny had ever received from Sheldon and she smiled all the way up the stairs, quickly dropping her laundry off in her apartment, dumping the clean clothes on her bed, grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge; she was in such a hurry that on the way out she nudged her key bowl and in a clumsy attempt to save it she helped it hit the floor, and despite the small space between the table and the floor the bowl smashed into several large pieces of china; Penny looked down at the bowl sighing, she really liked that bowl, but there was nothing she could do about it now, she'd have to go shopping and buy another one. Penny pushed the pieces of pottery to the side with her foot before going over to 4A, making sure she locked her door. She hesitated before knocking.

_Knock Knock Knock _"Sheldon!"

_Knock Knock Knock _"Sheldon!"

_Knock Knock Knock_ "Sheldon!"

Leonard was the one to open the door, stepping back when he saw what Penny was wearing and as always Raj and Howard stared at her too, also shocked to see her in a Starfleet uniform.

"Hey guys!" Penny smiled at them all. "Can I come in?" she asked when Leonard was still holding the door, the man shuffled to the side, letting her past before closing the door.

"May I say that you look ravishing in that outfit?" Howard approached her, about to put his arm around her waist, Penny quickly swatting his arm away.

"Hey Penny, how come you're here? And dressed up," Leonard asked, staring, twiddling his fingers.

"Sheldon invited me over." Penny looked at Raj who quickly ran over to the fridge, opening a beer, taking a couple of swigs before turning back to her.

"Hey Penny." He smiled his goofy smile, taking another sip of beer. Penny walked passed Raj, placing her bottle of wine in the fridge, keeping it cool until she needed it.

"Ok, my clothes are neatly away, should we proceed?" Sheldon asked, emerging from his bedroom and entering the living room. Penny smiled as 'Spock' took his place on the sofa, looking at the others, frowning.

"Who are you all meant to be?"

"I'm Jean Luc Picard," Leonard said, setting up the movie. Penny looked at Raj.

"I'm Worf."

"And I'm a Borg drone." Howard said; his outfit was just creepy and weird in her opinion. Penny knew none of them, so she assumed their costumes were accurate, she thought Raj's costume was the best, although seeing Sheldon in his Spock costume made her realise what muscle was hiding under his usual thermal and t-shirt, today he was wearing just the one shirt and it was tight against his chest. Howard went to sit next to Sheldon; but the man stopped him.

"That's Uhura's seat," he stated, Howard frowned turning to look at Penny, before rolling his eyes and shuffling, Penny smiled, skipping over to her comfy spot on the sofa, trying to ignore Leonards uncomfortable stare. "Press play Leonard, we have two movies to watch before the night is up." Leonard looked down at the remote, aggressively pressing the 'play' button, throwing it onto the coffee table; as usual Raj was sat on the floor, but he didn't protest.

Halfway through the first movie everyone stopped for a toilet and drinks break, Penny had managed to follow the story so far, but began questioning Sheldon on aspects of the film, Leonard had spent most of the film watching every move Penny or Sheldon made and when Penny when to the toilet Leonard took the opportunity to mention his displeasure at how Sheldon was acting regarding Penny, which of course Sheldon did not understand, frustrating the man further.

The bottle of wine was opened and Penny ran back to her apartment to retrieve some snacks, emptying them into a bowl and upon returning to 4A she placed them in the middle of the coffee table before taking her seat back on the sofa next to Sheldon, the physicist raised an eyebrow at Leonard when he saw the twitch of the man's eye, and Sheldon, in a very bold move placed his arm on the back of the sofa, bringing it around Penny, turning to the woman, reaching for her glass of wine.

"May I have a try?" he asked, Penny was completely bemused as she watched the man raise the glass to his lips, taking a swig of the liquid, swallowing, passing the glass back to Penny, winking. "It's very nice." The whole room stared at the man; Howard's fingers hovering over the light switch, Raj turned to the TV, pointing the remote at it.

"Hit the lights," Raj said, pressing play, Howard launching himself onto the sofa, pushing Penny closer to Sheldon, the physicist's arm rest on her shoulder, his thumb stroking at the bare skin of her arm. At first Penny was unsure, but she knew what Sheldon was like and recently been more relaxed regarding physical contact, he was just exploring that, and Penny in response slowly lowered her head onto the man's shoulder, the glass of wine limp in her hand; and occasionally throughout the second half of the first movie the two of them would take sips in turn, Penny generously refilling the glass, surprised that Sheldon was suddenly consuming alcohol, although she had stated the other night that drinking alcohol was sort of a none optional social convention when there are at least five people present; yes she had lied, but it worked, although she did limit the amount he was having before his body could properly get use to it.

By the end of the first movie Penny was a little more that tired, but she felt bad if she just stood up and left, she looked at the half full glass of wine, shrugging and reaching over, pouring the last of the wine into her glass; knowing that Sheldon would probably help her drink it, he was enjoying the wine so far, and may also be a little bit tipsy.

Another toilet break was called before the start of the second movie, and Raj needed another beer. Leonard was slumped in his chair, glaring at Sheldon who seemed not to notice. This time it was Howard to tried to have a word with Sheldon about how he was acting with Penny, Howard explained how it looked, as if Sheldon was flirting with Penny when he knew Leonard liked Penny, of course Sheldon laughed, explaining that his feeling towards Penny were mutual and that he was only been her friend; pointing out that Sheldon is hardly Penny's type and that he was merely trying to make her comfortable in a setting she isn't use to; she barely ever joined them for movie nights, especially when dressing up was involved; even Howard saw Sheldon's point of view, but it still annoyed Leonard, who crossed his arms, frowning at the TV as Raj set up the next disk, making sure the first disk was placed in its case and placed in the right DVD spot; not wanting to get a strike from Sheldon.

Penny wobbled back from the bathroom, walking over to the light switch and flicked it off before flopping back next to Sheldon.

"Lights, camera, action!" She shouted, getting a laugh out of Sheldon, Raj obeyed, and pressed 'play'.

The second movie seemed to move faster, Penny was now getting to grips with who everyone was and their relationship with each other, including Spock and Uhura's relationship and she blushed; hoping it was dark enough that no one realised.

Eventually the inevitable happened and Penny drifted off to sleep, Sheldon realised this and removed the glass from her hand, placing it on the coffee table as gently as he could, trying to keep his shoulder still as he did.

Penny was almost reluctant to move, she was so comfy, but she could hear someone whispering her name, and as a result she slowly opened her eyes, the room was still dark and the movie still playing.

"The movie has almost finished, though I should wake you," Sheldon whispered in her ear so the others couldn't hear him. Penny nodded, thanking him with a 'thumbs up'. She rubbed her eyes, sitting up slightly; as she did the credits begun to roll and Howard was up on his feet to switch the light back on, making everyone squint. Penny slowly stood up, wobbling, holding onto Sheldon's shoulder for support.

"Well thank you for tonight guys, I had fun." Penny smiled. "We should do this again sometime; maybe make it a weekly thing." The boys seemed to be quite enthusiastic about that suggestion but they would discuss it another day when they weren't tired. Penny quickly went around the room hugging everyone goodnight in her slightly drunken state, heading for the door once everyone had had a hug.

"Let me help you back to your apartment Penny," Sheldon offered, grabbing hold of Penny's arm to keep her stable, opening the door for her.

The two of them walked slowly over to Penny's apartment, the woman fumbled around with her keys before Sheldon offered to open the door for her, opening her door and letting her inside, staring down at the broken china that was shoved into a small pile by the door.

"How did you break your bowl?" he asked, looking at the beautiful pottery that was now on the floor.

"I knocked it when I was coming over to yours." Penny sighed, she had forgotten about her broken bowl. Sheldon was in the doorway holding Penny's keys, unsure of where to place them, without a key bowl Penny was bound to lose them. The woman stood up, walking up to Sheldon, removing the keys from his grip, throwing them onto her kitchen island, she would eventually find them in the morning. "Thanks again for inviting me over, I had fun." Penny reached up and hugged the physicist again.

"Yes, it was very…interesting." Sheldon smiled as she pulled away. The two of them stood staring at each other; Penny had a silly drunken smile plastered across her face. Sheldon swallowed, his tongue darting out to when his lips before he reached down and planted a kiss on Penny's forehead.

"Goodnight Uhura, sleep well." Sheldon then left, closing the door behind him and headed back to 4A, Penny wobbled to her room, giggling, flopping onto the bed, not even bothering to get changed.

Back at Sheldon and Leonard's apartment the three boys were waiting for Sheldon, Leonard was a little more than pissed off, he was sure that Sheldon was just flirting with Penny to annoy him, and at least half an hour was wasted on useless bickering that got them nowhere, eventually Sheldon had had enough, insisting that there was nothing between him and Penny and there never would be before storming off to his room, getting changed into his pyjamas and crawled into bed, unable to sleep due to his frustration that the others were picking on him, but eventually exhaustion got the better of him and he fell into a deep sleep.

That night he dreamt of Penny.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Penny Quandary **

**Chapter 2**

**Sunday Morning, 7:46am**

Sheldon woke up, stretching out; last night he had slept exceptionally well; he lay in bed, his mind drifting back to the events of last night, they were, at best foggy. He knew Leonard was mad at him, but he couldn't remember why, his alcohol intake would explain why his memory was patchy; he could remember having a considerable amount of the wine Penny had brought over from her apartment.

Thinking about Penny made him remember what he had been dreaming about…her, dressed as Uhura, the two of them on the USS enterprise… Sheldon closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head; of course Penny had been a big part of his dream, Sheldon had been spending a lot of time with her that day, so therefore his body was just processing that information whilst he slept…

The physicist eventually slid out of bed; blinking down at his pyjamas…they were his Wednesday pyjamas.

"Oh God!" he whispered in horror, quickly peeling the pyjamas off his body, throwing them into his laundry basket quickly, looking at himself in the mirror; that's why he had a 'no alcohol' rule, it messed with his brilliant mind and turned order into chaos, high entropy in action.

The man quickly jumped into the shower, as If to wash the chaos away, before quickly changing, pulling on some trousers, a thermal and his superman top, briskly walking out of his bedroom after opening the curtains and making his bed.

A very grumpy looking Leonard was sat at the kitchen island, eating a bowl of cereal. "Good morning Leonard," Sheldon said, very politely, smiling; Leonard just nodded, at least he had acknowledged that the man was there, it wasn't _**his**_ fault that Penny decided to terminate their relationship, Leonard obviously wasn't her type of man.

Sheldon was feeling so good that he decided to have some cereal from the low fibre end of his cereals, the 'honey puffs', Sheldon was excited to have them, maybe wearing the Wednesday pyjamas wasn't so bad, everything seemed to be going perfectly this morning, Sheldon hadn't felt this good since he cleaned Penny's apartment.

The peace of the apartment was soon disrupted when Raj and Howard entered the apartment not long after Sheldon had finished breakfast; both dressed oddly, holding a bag of something, both smiling at Leonard.

"Good morning you two." Sheldon continued to be polite, settling into his spot on the couch.

"Leonard, we are heading to the farmer's market, would you like to join us?" Howard revealed some clothes he deemed to be 'hippi' style, offering them to Leonard. "You might get lucky." Howard winked at him, normally Raj and Howard went on their own, but after last night…and how down Leonard about his break-up with Penny, the two had decided to invite him along.

"Sure, why not?" Leonard jumped up, grabbing the clothes and running to his bedroom to get changed. Howard and Raj both stared at Sheldon who was now comfortably nestled into his spot, watching something on TV, they both shook their heads at him, and Sheldon questioned them as to why they were reacting like that. The boys then explained (again) that as Leonard's best friend he should be limiting his contact with Penny and supporting him, not flirting with the woman. Sheldon objected saying he was only been a good friend and neighbour to Penny, there was no flirting between them, and he also explained that Penny is a close friend and it's not his fault that Penny and Leonards relationship didn't work out, but he should lose a friend because of one man's incompetence to keep a woman.

"You're impossible." Howard sighed, shaking his head. Sheldon noted them man's incorrect use of the word 'impossible' he was about to explain he couldn't be impossible because he exists and that the word he was looking for was probably improbably or unbelievable, but before he could start Leonard appeared, wearing his 'hippi' attire, the style didn't suit him at all, but the man was convinced, after what Howard had said that it could help him 'get lucky'. Leonard scooped his keys out of the key bowl, walking out of the door with Raj and Howard without saying goodbye.

The apartment returned to its peaceful state. Sheldon bolted upright, staring at the key bowl, remembering that Penny's bowl had met a tragic end the night before, Sheldon fetched his wallet, grabbing his keys before he too exited the apartment, heading over to Penny's place.

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock_ "Penny!"

Penny was quick to open her door, smiling up at her neighbour.

"Morning Sheldon!" she smiled up at him, letting him in, a dustpan and brush in her hands and she was wearing her 'scruffy' clothes, at least Sheldon hoped they were her scruffy clothes, they were filthy.

"Good morning Penny, if you are busy I can come back later." She seemed to be making good progress of cleaning her entire apartment, not just the broken pottery; Sheldon didn't want to stop her.

"No no, please." She waved her hand towards _his _seat, tipping the broken bowl into her bin, placing the utensils back under her sink, turning and smiling at Sheldon. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come shopping with me," He smiled at the woman. Penny blinked a couple of times before nodding.

"Sure, I'd love to go shopping, what kind of shopping?" Sheldon stood up.

"Bowl shopping." Sheldon pointed to where her key bowl should have been; as if it wasn't obvious what they were going to shop for. Penny smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Yay…bowl shopping," she said, overly enthusiastically, but Sheldon didn't seem to notice and instead gave her the 'thumbs up'. "Let me get changed, wait here." Penny headed off in the direction of her bedroom, pushing the door closed. Unfortunately the door didn't shut completely and Sheldon found himself trying to look anywhere but the direction of Penny's room.

Sheldon accidently peeked, he regretted it straight away, getting a full view as Penny not only bent over to pick some clothes off the floor, but also caught a glimpse of the woman's breast that was yet to be covered by a clean bra. The physicist swallowed hard, quickly looking away, fiddling with his wallet, picking up one of the magazines that littered Penny's apartment, reading the article on the first page he came to '_How to please him in bed'_ Sheldon quickly searched for another page turning to an innocent looking page, but dropped the magazine after reading the title of the article 'How to stay _Healthy in a Sexual Relationship_', did the woman own a magazine that wasn't full of…adult reading.

Penny frowned when she reappeared from her bedroom, looking at the flustered physicist who had quickly grabbed a magazine when he saw the woman approaching the door.

"Are you finding that interesting Sheldon?" Penny smiled. "I should have guessed you could read upside-down." Sheldon flushed pinker, placing the magazine on the coffee table gingerly, standing up.

"We should get going." Sheldon exited Penny's apartment, Penny grabbed her keys from the kitchen island before following the man out of the door.

For a Sunday the shops were surprisingly busy, probably due to the nice weather they were having. The two neighbours strolled around town, window shopping mostly, Sheldon occasionally got dragged into a clothes shop, and to Sheldon's horror he was forced to try various clothes on for Penny's amusement, and yet again Penny targeted his weakness, offering to take him to the comic book store on the way home, and make him spaghetti sometime in the upcoming week.

Eventually the two entered a 'home décor' shop, it was 'small and cute' as Penny had exclaimed before they had made their way into the store. The two looked through a variety of bowls, small and large, patterned or plain, Sheldon never realised how hard shopping for a bowl could be, so much choice, the two managed to narrow it down to four possible bowls, staring at them, both perplexed.

Sheldon pointed at the small shallow bowl which had a base colour of white, but was then covered in a pattern of an animated blue bowl with orange liquid steaming, the colours would match her sofa and collection of pillows, not to mention it had a personal touch due to the fact she had 'Soup' tattooed in Chinese on her right butt cheek.

"What about that one?" Sheldon said eventually vocalising his attachment to the bowl, Penny seemed to agree, the others didn't know about Penny's 'soup' tattoo so it would be personal to her…and to an extent to Sheldon; Penny brought the bowl, extremely pleased with her purchase, and Sheldon also decided to buy the bowl, in the same colour; which then required another half an hour of time within the shop searching for a comfy orange pillow that would join Sheldon in his stop to match the colour of the new bowl…maybe wearing Wednesdays pyjamas was beginning to take effect.

Like Penny had promised (although the promise kept changing throughout the day) the two went to the comic book store on their way home, Stewart greeted them, staring at Penny for longer than was socially acceptable, as did most of the males in the store.

The neighbours spent about an hour looking through comics, Penny pick up two that Sheldon had recommended for 'beginners' whilst he proceeded to buy the latest version of a manga he was currently reading, he didn't usually enjoy manga, he had accidently read a snippet of it on the internet and due to his compulsive need for closure he then had to buy the manga and read it, and was so far enjoying the plot and characters within it.

Sheldon accompanied Penny back to 4B, helping her with her bags, but he was also going to search for the new clothes she had forced him to buy, saying a new style might be healthy for him, if only for the week, which he had reluctantly agreed to, but he was getting spaghetti with hotdogs for doing so, Penny really knew how to get her own way with him. Penny instantly rummaged through the bag of cushions to find her new bowl, placing it where her old bowl had once sat, it really did suit her room, and the pair had brought two pillows each to match their new bowls.

"Thank you for today Sheldon, I really enjoyed myself," Penny said once they had emptied her bags and separated their items.

"No thank you." Sheldon stood holding his bags, smiling down at Penny, his heart beginning to beat a little faster; he swallowed, trying to ignore the awkwardness that had suddenly flooded the space between them. "Well bye then." The physicist turned to leave, waddling to the door, weighted down by his shopping; Penny followed him to the door.

"Sheldon." The man turned, two arms wrapping around him and a kiss was quickly planted on his cheek before the woman disappeared into her apartment without another word leaving Sheldon flustered and confused.

Sheldon unpacked his things, replacing the old key bowl with the new one, using the old bowl as a fruit dish for the coffee table, he knew it wouldn't stay there forever but for now it worked, he tested his spot with the new duck feather pillows, it made his spot even better and he sunk into the cosy cushions smiling to himself; his joy was soon disrupted by giggles and Leonard walked in, obviously drunk…or high on something with a girl draped over his arm, Sheldon sighed.

"Hey buddy!" Leonard said, over friendly, stumbling over to him. "Can you leave, I'm going to have sex with Giselle," the man sniggered, leaning the woman off down the hall. Sheldon shuddered, quickly grabbing his new manga book before exiting the apartment, looking at Penny's place.

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock_ "Penny!"

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking at the man who had barely spent an hour away from her.

"Leonard's having sex…can I stay here?" Sheldon asked, looking back at his apartment and shuddering again.

"Of course sweetie." She stepped aside letting him in.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting." Sheldon noted the woman's bare legs. Penny flushed pink, shaking her head.

"No not busy, just making chilli." She pointed at her stove which was on low heat; Sheldon smelt the air and boy did it small good…maybe he could stay for dinner; the man got excited at the idea, he hadn't had homemade chilli in ages.

Sheldon sat in his chair; beginning to read his manga, Penny had returned to her bathroom, emerging from her bedroom about 10 minutes later with her comic book, the chilli still had another 30 minutes to cook so there was time to read some of the comic.

Sheldon didn't get very far with his manga, Penny needed him to explain the comic book to her, and it turned into Sheldon reading to Penny, whilst explaining what was happening and why; when the timer for the chilli went off Penny quickly dished up the chilli into two bowls before the two of them headed to Penny's room, and the pair made themselves comfy on Penny's bed before Sheldon continued to read to Penny in between bites of the delicious food she had prepared.

By the time the comic had come to an end Penny was hooked; and so was Sheldon, it had been awhile since he had read the comic himself, and an idea quickly struck him and he excused himself, explaining he would be back very soon.

The man snuck over to 4A and sprinted to his room, searching through his comics until he found the second and third comic, quickly exiting and returning to Penny's, grabbing his new duck pillows on the way.

The two snuggled back into Penny's bed and Sheldon continued to read the comics and explain in detail what was happening; he even stood up to act out what was happening, throwing himself into story time.

Sheldon had settled down to read the third comic, he had been so energetic throughout the second book he had run out of energy, the only light in the room was coming from Penny's bedside lamp; and during a drink and toilet break she had drawn the curtains and locked up, hiding her key so Sheldon would have to stay over.

Penny had fallen asleep to the sound of Sheldon's voice, the man had noticed this and had stopped reading, spending a lot of time just gazing at the sleeping beauty, his mind flashing back to what he had seen that morning and he quickly shook his head, carefully climbing out the bed, not wanting to wake Penny.

Just like Penny had planned, Sheldon couldn't find Penny's key for the door and he had left his key in his apartment. He tried ringing Leonard but the man was probably too busy having coitis, the man sighed in defeat and returned to Penny's bedroom, stripping down to his underwear and thermal top, gently crawling in next to Penny; he would have slept on the couch, but he couldn't find a blanket and he knew it would be impossible for him to sleep on the couch anyway.

As Sheldon lay in the dark thinking Penny rolled over, her leg wrapping around Sheldon's thigh, her arms hugging at his stomach. Sheldon lay in shock, frozen; he didn't know what to do.

"Sheldon…" Penny whispered, sighing as she said his name. The man swallowed, his tongue darting out to wet his suddenly dry lips as he gingerly wrapped an arm around Penny's shoulders and in response the unconscious Penny hugged him tighter, sighing his name again, which sent goose bumps up his arms, and he suppressed a shiver.

Eventually the man fell asleep, hugging the quietly snoring woman who had wrapped herself around him, but it was strangle comforting, Sheldon had never shared a bed with anyone and here he was in bed with Penny…the physicist screwed his eyes shut, what was he getting himself into…stupid Wednesday pyjamas.

Tell me what you think…please :) x


	3. Chapter 3

**The Penny Quandary **

**Chapter 3**

**Monday Morning, 2:05am**

Sheldon jumped awake to the sound of shouting and movement from outside the apartment, his violent movement caused Penny to wake up, sleepily looking at Sheldon in the dark, rubbing her eyes, as she began to come round she too could hear the shouting coming from outside, and reached over Sheldon to turn the lamp on, looking at her clock, grumbling.

The woman stomped out of bed, turning back to Sheldon who had the blanket up around his shoulders, covering his ears to drown out the sound of shouting.

"You stay here sweetie, I'll go see what's happening." Sheldon nodded, watching the woman leave. It took Penny a couple of minutes to locate her keys; her hiding place had been so good that she had forgotten where she had put them.

Penny unlocked her door, stepping out into the hallway. Raj, Howard and Leonard were all stood in the hallway, Raj and Howard were shouting at Leonard, stopping when they saw Penny. "Do you have any idea what time it is!" she stated, staring at the men.

"Sheldon's run away, we were a little mean to him earlier and I think he got scared and ran away, he's not picking up his phone, he left his apartment keys in the bowl and he's not picking up his phone," Leonard blurted out, stumbling over his words. Penny frowned…they were been mean to Sheldon…maybe that's why he had wanted to go shopping, because the others were leaving him out…like bullies and that's why he had ended up staying the night; Penny licked her teeth with her tongue, folding her arms.

"It's on your heads if he's found dead in a ditch then, I suggest you start looking in all the usual places, I'll ring his mother." The three boys looked at each other, hesitating. "I said start searching for him!" Penny eventually snapped when they didn't move; that got them moving at the three of them began to arrange where they were going to split up and look, of course Raj had to whisper to Howard because if Penny's presence; never tangle with a tired, angry Penny.

"Are you not going to help?" Leonard asked when Penny was about to walk back into her apartment.

"I'm not the one who caused him to run away!" Leonard accidently sniggered sarcastically, Penny glaring at him. "What?"

"You're the one who caused the argument…you were flirting with him and Sheldon was going along with it…" Leonard started loud but ended up been a tiny squeak by the end of the sentence. The three men stared at Penny, Raj whispered in Howard's ear 'if looks could kill', causing Howard to laugh.

"There is a difference between flirting and been friendly, just because I'm a woman and Sheldon is a man that makes my kind gestures flirting and makes his gestures flirting?" Penny snapped, fuming with anger. The three men seemed to shrink, intimidated; Leonard regretted saying what he had said; if he had even had another chance with Penny he just blew it. "I. Suggest. You. Find. Sheldon." She said each word slowly, over exaggerating her lip movement and the men quickly scurried away. The woman turned to her apartment, smiling.

Sheldon asked what all the shouting had been about and Penny then explained Mrs. Grossinger's dog had managed to escape and was running around the building; Sheldon seemed to find that explanation plausible, snuggling back into Penny's comfy bed, the woman removed her clothes, stripping down to her underwear, she had fallen asleep fully clothed, Sheldon stared in horror.

"Penny…what are you doing?" he asked nervously, grabbing one of the teddies from her collection, using it to cover his eyes. Penny laughed.

"Don't worry Sheldon; I'll put some pyjamas on." Penny rolled her eyes, searching for some clean pyjamas. The man relaxed, placing the toy back on the bed, pretending to be very interested in Penny's 'touch sensitive' lamp to refrain from looking at the woman, and he was blushing just thinking about the woman getting changed in his presence. "Oh dear…I don't have any clean pyjamas…" Sheldon swallowed, twitching as he looked at the woman, but before he could say anything Penny was already climbing into the bed, snuggling up to the physicist; Sheldon froze. "Turn the light off sweetie, I'm tired." Sheldon did as he was told, switching the lamp off, but his body stayed rigid as he tried to process what was happening…this was obviously not within the friendship area of socializing…

Eventually Sheldon relaxed, sinking down onto the mattress, taking deep breaths to calm himself down and once again the pair fell asleep in each other's awkward embrace.

'No pyjamas had to be worse than wearing the wrong day pyjamas' Sheldon though as he lay in Penny's bed, waiting for the woman to wake up and release him from her sweaty grasp. The man's eyes wandered to the clock and the man leapt out of bed, jolting Penny awake in the process.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" she asked watching the man running around the room picking up his clothes.

"I was meant to be in a meeting with Dr. Gablehauser over an hour ago!" Sheldon was panicking, he was never late to work, and this meeting might have been important. Penny slumped back down into the bed.

"Don't worry sweetie, I called the university and informed them you wouldn't be in today." Sheldon stopped fumbling around with his clothes, staring at Penny who was almost ready to fall back asleep.

"What did you say?" the key to a good lie lay in the detail…

"I just told them you were recovering from an illness you got over the weekend and that you would be back tomorrow." Sheldon thought for a minute or two before coming to terms with the fact he wouldn't be at work, he also thanked Penny for 'having his back'. "Sweetie why don't you have a shower, I'll go get you your new clothes to change into and then we can discuss what to do today." Sheldon agreed, confused as to why he couldn't just go and have a shower at his, but Penny insisted that he had a shower at hers.

Penny found a new blue shirt and light grey jeans for Sheldon to wear, she had picked them out for him yesterday when they had gone shopping, she had also brought him some boxers, she hated his white underpants, she knew Sheldon would object, but he wasn't going to stay in dirty underpants all day. The woman set the clothes on her bed, telling Sheldon he was to put the clothes on after his shower, the physicist thanked her before turning to shower back on.

When Sheldon emerged in his new clothes Penny almost dropped the pan she was cooking in, staring at the handsome man stood in her bedroom, Sheldon grew nervous as the woman continued to stare, looking down at himself.

"What do you think?" he asked, turning for her, Penny gawked at him even more, the shirt fit him perfectly, outlining his slender, yet muscular body and the jeans promoted his manhood and backside, Penny swallowed, looking down at the lightning shaped pancake she had spend the last half an hour on perfecting. The woman was surprised Sheldon hadn't kicked up a fuss about the boxers.

"You look really good…it suits you." Penny blushed before she placed the final pancake on the small stack of pancakes on his plate, covering it in caramel butter before placing it on her table, waving towards the seat. "I hope you don't mind having pancakes for breakfast…" she knew Sheldon usually had oatmeal on Mondays…but hopefully he would make an exception. "They're dyed yellow and are in the shape of lightning…" she held the pancakes up for Sheldon to see, placing it back on the table and revealing 'the flash' napkins she had brought.

That was the icing on the cake for Sheldon and the man took his seat at the table, overjoyed, digging into the sweet pancakes which were cooked perfectly, Penny smiled when she saw how happy Sheldon was, she even poured him a glass of fresh juice to accompany his meal.

"I haven't had pancakes since the last time I saw Memaw…" Sheldon's happiness seemed to fade for a minute, before he looked up and smiled at Penny; it had been too long since he had last seen his Memaw.

"Well why don't _we_ visit her sometime soon?" Penny offered, smiling. Sheldon thought about going to see his Memaw, agreeing with Penny's plan, stating that she would have to drive them there; Penny agreed.

It was Penny's turn to have a shower after breakfast, and Sheldon took the opportunity to read his manga book, deciding to start from the beginning because he could barely remember what had happened. Penny emerged 30 minutes later, a towel wrapped around her head and she was holding a box. "What colour should I paint my nails?" she asked Sheldon, holding out the box towards him; Sheldon ripped a line of magazine, using it as a bookmarker before looking at the array of film-forming polymers, picking out a light blue and pink nail polish.

"You should alternate the colours; I think that would look good." Sheldon smiled when Penny agreed with him on his choice of colour.

"Sheldon could you sit on the floor for a second, I need to re-fluff your pillows." Sheldon did as he was told, sitting on the floor, what he hadn't anticipated was been pinned to the floor by Penny, who straddled him, facing his feet.

"Penny!" he cried out. "What are you doing?" Penny giggled, shuffling down Sheldon's thighs, unscrewing the top of the blue nail polish.

"Sheldon if you don't stop moving I might spill this nail polish over your new manga." Then man instantly froze, mumbling, but began poking her in the back.

"And if you don't get off me I might…" Sheldon couldn't think of anything, panicking. "I'll accidently spill Hydrofluoric acid on your teddy collection…"

"If you did that Sheldon I might end up burning all your mint condition comic books on the roof to warm myself up when I go moon-bathing." Sheldon frowned.

"You moon-bathe?" Penny rolled her eyes.

"No Sheldon I don't, but I'll still burn your comics if you corrode my toys…and if you don't let me paint your nails…" Penny leaned forwards about to pain Sheldon's toenail, hesitating, she felt a little cruel. "Sheldon Cooper…can I please pain your toenails…" it was fair to say that Penny was beginning to develop a fetish for feet…not feet in general, just Sheldon's, there was something so beautiful about them that she felt compelled to paint them, Sheldon sighed in defeat, agreeing; the view of her backside helped his decision...Sheldon shuddered at the thought that Penny's body was persuading his decision, he felt like Howard…

Sheldon was bright red and flustered by the time Penny was onto his right foot, the movement in his jeans had also caused him discomfort…his body had never reacted in such a way when he had been conscious and he was now worried that Penny would realise, lucky for him the jeans were quite tight and there was no obvious alterations in the appearance…unless you stared…then it was pretty obvious; thankfully Penny was straddling his knees now, facing the other way as she carefully continued to paint his nails, alternating between the colours; this was so humiliating…but Sheldon did let her do it, so it was his own fault. "You'll have to stay still for the next 10 to 20 minutes to let the paint dry," Penny said, Sheldon nodded, watching the woman, shuffling his position.

And then something unthinkable happened, Penny leant forwards and planted three kisses on each of Sheldon's feet, lingering on the last kiss on each foot, Sheldon closed his eyes tightly, holding his breath, his jeans twitched slightly, making Sheldon blush more.

"P – Penny?" Sheldon's voice was a heated whisper, and slightly hoarse when he spoke. Penny had stilled, slowly sitting up.

"Sorry…that's how we bless feet after we've painted them." Penny smiled casually, handing Sheldon the nail polish, proud of herself that she had managed to think so quick on the spot. "It's your turn to paint my nails!" Sheldon frowned, swallowing, afraid to stand up, waiting a few more minutes before he shakily stood up, Penny sitting on the floor, tapping her lap, inviting Sheldon to straddle her like she had to him.

Sheldon was arguing with the side of his brain that was telling him to stop, but his body was doing the complete opposite and the man carefully straddled Penny, facing her feet, but decided to prop himself up on his knees, afraid that he was too heavy to sit on Penny's legs.

To Sheldon this way of sitting whilst doing someone's nails was completely ridiculous, he was painting her nails upside down…no wonder no one ever asked Penny to do their nails, she had the most bazaar technique.

Eventually Sheldon got a hang on the whole painting upwards and was been very careful to keep the polish on her nails and not dribble it all over her skin, alternating the colours just like his toes were painted; he had to keep gasping for air away from the fumes, been a little bit over dramatic at times, but Penny was use to him.

Penny was buzzing with excitement when Sheldon got to her baby toe, the last toe to be painted…she was anticipating his lips on her feet…would he, or wouldn't he, that was the question and she found herself biting at her lip.

Sheldon screwed the lid back onto the polish, swallowing, looking down at Penny's beautiful feet, he could smell her peach scented moisturiser and very slowly he reached out with his finger, brushing it along her foot, feeling the soft skin beneath it. The physicist hesitated before leaning forwards and planting a kiss on her foot, soft lips meeting soft skin. Like Penny had Sheldon kissed down her foot three times before moving to the next foot, doing the same, his breathing had become uneven and by the sound of Penny's breathing so had hers.

They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, before Sheldon stood up, looking down and Penny who had rosy pink cheeks.

"Well that was…interesting," Sheldon spoke quietly, looking down at their toes. Penny nodded in agreement, her breathing still shaky. The man's eyes fell upon the manga book that was on her coffee table and he reached for it, walking over to his seat and began reading; Penny eventually stood up and headed to her bedroom to fetch Sheldon's copy of the third comic, grabbing her peach moisturiser as she passed, heading back into her living area.

"Sheldon…" it was her begging voice and the man looked up at her, she was holding the comic book out in front of her, swaying slightly, looking at him through her eyelashes. Sheldon sighed in defeat, putting his manga back down; Penny smiled, nestling in between his legs, sitting on the floor, grabbing her new cushion to make herself more comfortable.

As Sheldon began to read Penny grabbed one of his feet, squirting a small blob of cream onto the back of it, beginning to rub it into his skin, Sheldon paused momentarily, watching Penny's hands as they rubbed the cream into his rough skin, before continuing to read to her; although he was enjoying the massage so much that occasionally he forgot where he was up to and had to re-read the page, getting embarrassed whenever it happened.

"You know what Sheldon, because you have been so good today, I think I'll make 'spaghetti a la hotdog' for lunch." Sheldon giggled at the name she had given the dish, he loved Penny's attempt at jokes; and the man offered to help her cook, or at least watch her and converse with her as she did.

Spaghetti was relatively easy to cook, it was more waiting than actually cooking, most of the ingredient came in packets or tins and you just followed the instructions, although Penny did add extra vegetables and herbs to the pasta sauce to make it tastier.

The two eventually sat down to eat at about 1:32pm, Penny then explained the truth about what all the shouting had been about earlier that morning, at first Sheldon was horrified that Penny had lied about where Sheldon was, but then he saw Penny's side and thought it best to let the others worry about him, after all they had been pushing him out for the last couple of days. The rest of the meal was passed discussing the comic book; Penny was trying to persuade Sheldon to stay over another night so that he could read the fourth comic to her, but the man apologised saying that he needed a night to himself, but said he would consider staying over on Tuesday night instead after he and the others had eaten at The Cheesecake Factory; Penny made the man 'pinky promise', which he did.

As Penny was washing up there was a loud knock at her door followed by her name been shouted, it was Leonard. Penny groaned walking over to the door and opening it; a very angry looking Leonard stood in front of her.

"I know you're hiding Sheldon! Why did you lie last night?" he shouted, he resembled a very angry hamster. "We were up all night looking for him, I've had less than 2 hours sleep, and that was at work!"

"Karma!" Penny replied, leaning in towards Leonard's face; the man blinked, staring at the woman. "What goes around comes around Leonard; maybe you should be nice to Sheldon." Leonard was still angry, but he didn't know what to say, Penny had completely thrown him off and he tried to remember the argument he had practised on the way up the stairs. "Now apologise to Sheldon."

"I'm not apologising for anything." Penny grabbed her bottle of 'febreze peach and blossom' squirting it at Leonards chest.

"Bad Leonard." Sheldon burst into laughter; so Penny had been listening when he had been rambling on about 'Skinners Operant conditioning'.

Leonard was not amused, staring at Penny. "Apologise to Sheldon, Please, he doesn't understand that he's done wrong; can we please just hug and make up?" Penny was trying her 'sweet and seductive' technique now, which usually worked, especially with Leonard. The man looked down at his feet, twiddling his thumbs, sighing after a few long moments.

"Fine," he mumbled. "I'm sorry I was mean to you Sheldon." Penny smiled.

"Good boy." She leaned in and hugged the small man, turning to Sheldon.

"Apology accepted Leonard." Penny bounced over to the taller man, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Good boy." Sheldon saw the sadness that swept across Leonards face at Penny's gesture, taking a deep breath.

"I should probably go now…" Sheldon edged his way around the woman who frowned, confused.

"But I thought we were going to play Mystic Warlords of Ka'a…" now Penny was disappointed.

Sheldon was 'stuck between a rock and a hard place' if he went home, he upset Penny, but if he stayed with Penny, Leonard would accuse him of 'picking sides' and 'flirting'. It was a lose-lose situation…

Sheldon approached Penny, leaning down so his lips were at her ear.

"We didn't arrange to play Mystic Warlords of Ka'a…" Sheldon whispered to Penny, he was confused, Penny had mentioned the game over lunch, but never said anything about playing it.

"I don't want you to leave…" she whispered back.

Sheldon froze as his mind began to tick, he knew what was happening, and he just didn't want to admit it.

"I need some air…" Sheldon sharply spun on his heels, and bolted for the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Penny Quandary **

**Chapter 4**

**Tuesday Morning, 9:00am**

Sheldon hadn't returned home until late, Penny had stayed up, listening for him, she couldn't sleep until she knew he was safe, in the state he was in anything could've happen; Penny had hoped that Sheldon would have knocked on her door and stayed the night, but she had no such luck.

The woman had managed to swap her evening shift for a morning shift, she was too scared to face Sheldon, she didn't know what would happen between them, she was worried he hated her, after yesterday and how he had reacted Penny was sure he would have ill feelings towards her; she wasn't even sure what had scared him and caused him to run, probably because she was been pushy…she just didn't know, maybe the idea of falling in love scared him...then again, did Sheldon have the capacity to love like normal people, he had so many rules and contracts…maybe he was scared because he was leading her on and didn't want to give Penny false hope…

The morning seemed to drag, morning shifts were always quieter than evenings, the occasional person would walk in for breakfast, but Penny only served five people, all of whom left her little or no tips, not even the male diners; it was probably because she had exceptionally large purple bags under her eyes, she hadn't slept well, too busy worrying and getting herself worked up over how she had acted that day, forcing Sheldon into doing things he wasn't comfortable with, she was such an idiot.

The fact the Cheesecake Factory was so quiet was bad, normally Penny didn't mind, but the lack of jobs to be done gave Penny too much time to her thoughts and she began to wind herself up again. Jesse, her friend at the factory realised this and tried to ask her what was wrong, but Penny just smiled, saying she was tried, not giving an explanation.

The morning got worse when Kurt appeared with a very attractive young woman draped over his arm, both laughing; and Penny was the one who had to serve them, she wasn't jealous of the woman, Kurt wasn't exactly a great find…but she was just embarrassed that she was stuck at the Cheesecake Factory, getting paid next to nothing and he seemed to be moving on with his stupid life, he was well dressed, Penny had heard he had got himself a fancy job from one of her friends. When Penny did serve them she made sure she was very polite and cheerful, and to her surprise Kurt was very pleasant back to her; which made her morning a little bit better; and when Kurt and his woman left there was a relatively nice tip waiting for her on the table.

Penny's good mood soon vanished again when she was asked to work the evening shift as well, Danielle had called in sick, and due to the Cheesecake Factory been short-staffed at the moment Penny was the only employee close enough to fill the shift; she sighed, agreeing, she needed the money, she was given a lunch break, which she spent within the Factory, eating a sandwich she had quickly constructed.

The evening shift had gone better that that morning, she was given more tips and the time seemed to pass faster. Eventually Penny opened up to Jesse when the two of them were re-stocking the bar; Penny explained she was falling for someone and she didn't know what to do; Jesse helped out by giving her 'simple' advice, like taking it slow and make sure she was certain about her feelings, this helped calm Penny down, but Sheldon wasn't like most men…which complicated her situation, and Sheldon wasn't her usual type of guy, that's what was worrying her, why had she all of a sudden fallen for her complete opposite? She was worried that, although she didn't really miss Leonard and she had been the one to end it with the man, but she was worried that Sheldon was a type of rebound from that relationship.

Luckily Penny was relieved before the boys actually got to the factory, and she collected the last of her tips before heading out of the door. Unfortunately the woman had to walk home in the rain; it had been a nice day when she had left for work and she had decided to walk, the fresh air had done her some good, helped clear her mind and refresh her tired body; but now she regretted the decision, she hadn't even brought her coat with her and she stood in the doorway for a while, waiting to see if the weather calmed down…it didn't.

By the time Penny got home she was soaked, squelching as she walked into her apartment, shivering as she peeled the wet clothes from her body, quickly heading to the bathroom, turning the shower on and stepping into the warm cascade of water still wearing her underwear, warming herself up; getting changed into her winter pyjamas to keep her body temperature as high as possible until she felt better, she didn't want to catch a cold, she couldn't be bothered with the hassle, and she definitely didn't want Sheldon avoiding her because of his germaphobia.

The woman ended up cleaning her apartment, tidying up the mess she had left from the day before. Once the apartment was relatively clean Penny switched her attention to food; she didn't feel like cooking, but she didn't have the money to waste on a take-away either; she rummaged through her cupboards until she came across a tin of tomato soup which was still in date, she poured it into a pan and put the heat on low, buttering some bread to go with it, flicking her radio on and finding a music station, singing along to one of the tracks she knew, dancing around; cheering herself up.

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock_ "Penny!"

Penny froze, putting the knife down and flicking the radio's volume down to low before turning to look at the door, her heart pounding; she swallowed, walking over to the door.

"Hey Sheldon," She smiled, making an attempt to look happy; the man had obviously walked back from the factory because he was soaked, Penny glanced at the time, it seemed at bit early for the boys to be home from the Factory.

"Good evening Penny." The two stood looking at each other for a minute before Penny stepped to the side, asking Sheldon in, and the man stepped into her apartment, placing a soggy bag on her kitchen island, turning to look at her. Penny closed the door. "Was I interrupting your dinner?" The physicist asked, looking at the half buttered bread.

"You need to have a shower and get warm before you catch a cold." Penny had noticed Sheldon shiver, completely ignoring his remark about him interrupting her. She walked over to the man, removing his coat, handing it on her radiator, pushing him towards her bathroom, the man protested but Penny ignored him; continuing to remove his shirt, leaving him to undress himself, before she got carried away; ordering him to have a shower. The man grumbled, but did as he was told; Penny went to fetch him some clean, warm clothes from 4A, the others weren't back yet, so Sheldon must have returned home on his own...Penny frowned, returning to 4B with the clothes.

When Sheldon emerged from her bedroom Penny had plated up two bowls of soup and had doubled the buttered bread, she placed the soup on the coffee table, fetching her blanket before the two of them snuggled into the sofa, watching late night TV and eating soup, warming up.

"Is this going to become a regular thing now?" Penny asked, smiling. She liked having Sheldon over for dinner; especially when they were snuggled on the sofa. "Did you enjoy your meal?"

"I would have preferred it if you had served us…" that was promising, Sheldon had missed Penny, even if it was just because he trusted her with his food.

"Sorry, I was asked to do the earlier shift…"

"I appreciate the soup…I didn't end up eating my usual barbeque burger…" Sheldon admitted. Penny apologised to Sheldon for not been there to serve his meal, feeling bad; she had been so worked up and selfish about the whole situation. The man shook his head and insisted it didn't matter. "I'd rather be here eating soup with you, than eating a burger that wasn't served by you, even if it is part of my routine." Penny smiled, as far as Sheldon went that was a compliment and a show of affection, making Penny feel all mushy inside and she smiled at the physicist, blushing, quickly turning back to the rubbish that was on T.V.

Once they had finished their soup Sheldon stood up and washed the bowls and spoons, reaching for the soggy bag that he had brought with him, quickly placing whatever was in the bag behind his back, turning to Penny. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands." Penny did as she was told and when she opened them she was presented with the fourth edition of the comic.

Without thinking the woman threw the blanket off her body, launched herself at Sheldon, hugging him; quickly stepping back, apologising to the man for her action; what she hadn't anticipated was the man pulling her back into a hug, stroking her hair as he held her tight, Penny slowly brought her hands up to hug Sheldon properly. "I missed you today, I'm sorry that I freaked out yesterday," he whispered as they hugged, Penny's heart jumped around in her chest, her breathing becoming shaky. Who was this man who was suddenly comfortable with such intimate contact?

Sheldon pulled away, he was bright red, but he offered the woman a sheepish smile, plucking the comic out of her hand. "I never go back on a promise…" Penny smiled, blushing. "Do you want me to read to you?"

The pair had fallen asleep on the sofa, both obviously suffering from a lack of sleep the night before; Penny had been the first to wake up; she had forgotten to turn the radio off and the woman carefully shift herself off of Sheldon's chest, tip-toeing over to the radio and switched it off at the plug, turning back to see a sleepy Sheldon waking up, stretching; he had slept in an awkward position. The physicist looked around before realising he was still at Penny's. "Sorry Penny, I didn't mean to fall asleep; how rude of me." Penny frowned in the darkness.

"No it's fine, I fell asleep too…I didn't sleep well last night." She admitted, whispering. Penny wandered back over to the sofa, sitting down, Sheldon moved his legs. "I was too busy worrying about you." She paused. "Sheldon I really am sorry for freaking you out yesterday, I'm just really enjoying your company at the moment." Penny blurted out, but Sheldon smiled, pulling Penny into a hug.

"I'm sorry I left yesterday, I didn't want to upset you, but I didn't want to upset Leonard either, he's my best friend." The two stayed hugging in the dark for what seemed like forever, before Sheldon spoke again.

"Penny, you know I'm not very good at…this kind of thing…but…"Sheldon lent forwards, Penny was so shocked she didn't react to Sheldon's advances and before she knew it the physicists lips were gently pressed against her own. The kiss didn't last long, and soon a very embarrassed Sheldon pulled back. "Sorry." Penny shook her head, swallowing, before quickly leaning in to kiss Sheldon again.

"I…I wanted you to…" The two stared at each other in the dark for a minute before Penny looked over at the clock. "Do you want to stay over?" there was still plenty of night left to get another decent nap. Sheldon nodded, collecting the blanket into his arms before following Penny into her bedroom, closing the door.

* * *

Sorry this chapter took so long to upload...hope it's up to scratch and you guys like it x


	5. Chapter 5

**The Penny Quandary **

**Chapter 5**

**Wednesday afternoon, 1:04pm**

So far, Sheldon had managed to avoid answering the questions that the other three were bombarding him with as to where he had been last night, and why he had left the Factory so early. Leonard had been particularly pushy, but Sheldon just shrugged the man away, trying to get on with his research; he had also said good morning to Leslie, which had everyone wandering why the man was in such a good mood.

Once alone in his office Sheldon quickly sent a text to Penny, thanking her for the lift in. Sheldon had over slept, but Penny had made his breakfast and then given the physicist a lift to work, dropping him right outside the front door, despite been in her pyjamas and they had also shared a cheeky, awkward smooch before Sheldon had quickly scurried inside with a huge grin on his face; that kiss just before he left the car had reassured the man that the night before hadn't been a dream, and he walked around the university with his head in the clouds, he couldn't stop smiling; nothing could dampen his mood.

Sheldon sat with the other three at lunch, in their usual space, Leslie attempted to damped Sheldon's mood by belittling his work and trying to cause an argument; Sheldon simply replied that 'everyone is entitled to their own opinions' and got on with eating his lunch, before a very disappointed Leslie walked away without another word, Howard and Raj shared a sideways glance, raising their eyebrows, normally Leslie and Sheldon fought each other tooth and nail.

Raj and Sheldon were discussing string theory and were attempting to work out a particular equations, Leonard offered to help, leaning closer to Sheldon, the smaller man suddenly glared at Sheldon.

"You slept with Penny!" he exclaimed a little too loud and caused most of the cafeteria to look in their direction. Sheldon turned to the man, taking a deep breath, Leonard was so frustrating today.

"I didn't have coitus with Penny, now shush I'm concentrating."

"You smell like Penny's sheets…" the three men stared at Leonard, frowning, before Raj and Howard's glances turned to Sheldon, raising their eyebrows.

"Penny washed a couple of my clothes I left at hers. Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to work" Leonard's jaw dropped as he stared speechlessly at the physicist, Raj and Howard didn't seem to see a problem with Sheldon's explanation and the three carried on looking at the complex muddle of various equations doodled across the A1 piece of paper .

"Why were you getting undressed at Penny's?" Sheldon sighed, sitting back in his chair, turning to his friend, Raj and Howard also sighed; they didn't really care why Sheldon had gotten changed in Penny's apartment, Sheldon wasn't exactly the kind of guy who stripped off and had sex with anyone, it was probably an innocent accident, like spilling grape juice down his trousers…again.

"It is none of your business what I do. So what if I got undressed at Penny's. So what if I stayed over and hung out with her? It doesn't concern you; you are not dating Penny anymore so stop acting like it!" Sheldon fumed, the others just stared, shocked; Sheldon never lost his temper, especially over something as trivial as this. Sheldon excused himself, grabbing the paper with the jottings and stormed back to his office with his lunch tray, angrily eating his food, pinning the paper onto his whiteboard, sitting at his desk, staring at it.

The man worked best when he was agitated and the apparent complicated equation was soon dissected and Sheldon had found the solution to the problem, excited he jumped up and headed to Raj's office, an hour after he had stormed away from the lunch table.

Before Sheldon reached Raj's office his phone buzzed and he quickly looked at the screen; it was a text from Penny.

_Have fun at work hunny, do something amazing_

The message was attached to a photo, a picture of the beautiful woman holding up her thumbs, smiling. Sheldon smiled, she called him _hunny_. The man put the phone back in his pocked before continuing to Raj's office.

Sheldon knocked on the man's door before walking in, smiling at Raj, presenting the man with the completed equation and all the working out; Raj was jumping around excited, this was a major breakthrough for both of them and their work. Sheldon stopped jumping for a minute, since when did he show people his work, or let people use his work…Sheldon thought for a few minutes before shrugging and continued to jump about, he was so happy…and he knew inside it wasn't his work that had got him so happy, he wanted to run around shouting and jumping how happy he was that Penny was in his life.

"We should go out for drinks to celebrate!" Raj exclaimed smiling, Sheldon initially protested, reminding Raj that Wednesday night was halo night, but eventually gave into Raj after the man had begged; suggesting that they invited the rest of the gang out; Raj quickly called the other two to tell them. A few minutes after the call Howard bounced into the room, congratulating Sheldon before jumping over to Raj, hugging him tight, Leonard didn't appear.

The sound of his phone ringing distracted Sheldon and the man quickly grabbed his phone, answering it.

"Hey Sheldon!" Penny's voice made Sheldon's stomach jump, and the physicist's stupid grin returned to his lips as quickly excused himself from the room and headed out into the hallway.

"Boy am I glad to hear your voice," Sheldon admitted, leaning against the wall, the smallest hint of his Texan drawl escaped as he spoke; on the other end of the phone Penny was biting her lip, she loved his Texan accent.

"I was wondering if you were coming over tonight…I was going to arrange some activities and stuff for us to do!" Penny announced as bubbly as ever. Although Sheldon would have loved to go round to Penny's, the man quickly explained to the woman about his big breakthrough in his work, trying not to bore the woman with the details, Penny congratulated the man, but Sheldon could tell she was a little upset about him not been with her tonight. "Well I hope you boy's have fun tonight, are you sleeping at mine tonight?" Again Sheldon apologised, he didn't know what time he would be getting in and he wouldn't want to wake the woman up when he slid into bed with her; the thought of sliding into bed with the woman made the man's heart flutter, and a slight blush to spread across his cheeks.

"I'll see you after work; we aren't going out straight away." That seemed to make Penny a little happier; of course she couldn't have him all to herself.

Once the two had said their goodbyes Sheldon was left feeling a little guilty, he wanted to see Penny, but if he spent too much time with her it would arouse suspicions, Leonard was particularly on his toes at the moment, he was noticing everything, but Sheldon had noticed that instead of wearing vanilla oil, Penny had switched to peach oil as well as other products, and that change had happened when the two of them had started hanging out, peaches were obviously his scent.

Work seemed to drag for the last few hours and eventually Sheldon had had enough and headed out of the university and towards the small selection of shops that scattered the long route home, he had learnt to enjoy window shopping, he and Penny did it a lot.

By the time Sheldon had reached the apartment he had brought a new dark shirt and pair of jeans, as well as a little something for Penny to apologise for not been with her tonight. Sheldon arrived home to find Leonard sat on the sofa watching TV, having an after-work snack; the man didn't look away from the TV, he didn't acknowledge the man, despite Sheldon saying hello to his friend.

The physicist headed to his room, placing his shopping on his bed before heading to the bathroom for a quick wash before he changed into his dark purple shirt and jeans, spraying himself with some new aftershave he had brought; heading over to Penny's with the present tucked into his pocket.

"If you're joining us tonight we are at the 'Fusion' bar, the new one down the road," Sheldon announced before closing the door and strolling over to Penny's.

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock _"Penny!"

_Knock Knock Knock_ "Penny!"

Penny bounced up to the door, opening it eagerly, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when she saw Sheldon is his tight shirt and wet hair. Without thinking Penny pulled Sheldon into her apartment, slamming the door shut, crushing her lips against Sheldon's; the man tried to kiss her back as well as he could, this was still new to him, but Penny encouraged the man, his arms were wrapped around her waist and her fingers were knotted in his hair, pulling him closer to her; what Sheldon hadn't prepared himself for was Penny's delicate tongue sliding past his lips and brushed against his own tongue; Sheldon didn't know what to do, he had never kissed a girl like this before, but he did as Penny was and began to gently battle her tongue with his own; this kiss was intoxicating, and Sheldon felt his body getting warm, reacting in ways it never had.

Penny eventually pulled away, her cheeks bright red like Sheldon's, the woman smiled.

"Sorry." She shrugged.

"Nothing to be sorry about," Sheldon smiled, he felt warm and fuzzy. "Oh!" he exclaimed when his hand brushed against his pocket. "I have a little something for you." He pulled out the small box, holding it out towards Penny. "It's to apologise for not been able to see you much tonight, and to say thank you for the lift to work this morning…also the Chinese lady wouldn't let me leave her shop without buying it." He admitted, causing Penny to laugh. The woman slowly opened the box, gasping when she saw what was in it.

In the box was a small silver sterling necklace with a Chinese symbol hanging from the end, the same symbol that was tattooed on her backside. Sheldon helped Penny put the necklace on; kissing her neck one it was fastened securely. Although it was somewhat a daft present Penny loved it.

Sheldon spent an hour at Penny's; the two of them discussed their day, the cheesecake factory had been very quiet during her lunchtime shift, but a very rich cheesecake addicted man had given her a very large tip after she had accidently spilt her drink down her top. Sheldon then went on to explain how Leonard had been all day, quickly skimming over that subject and onto his research, explaining what he had discovered using the fruit Penny had on the table, he wanted Penny to understand what he did, and so far she seemed to understand a little of what he was saying…or maybe she was been polite.

Sheldon left Penny's apartment, giving Penny a quick peck on the lips before heading out of the apartment and towards the bar where they were meeting; Howard had said there would be food available there so there was no need to eat beforehand.

The bar itself was relatively quiet for the first hour, mainly filled with people dining; but at the night progressed the bar began to get busy; Leonard had even decided to show up, which had pleased Sheldon; the man had even congratulated Sheldon on his work. The boys were later joined by a group of girls who Howard had managed to entice over, and the group got chatting, sitting down in a booth after Raj had brought drinks for everyone; Sheldon wasn't really interested and was drinking his usual diet coke, not realising that Howard had added a hint of vodka to it, but Sheldon seemed distracted and didn't realise the difference in taste.

The smaller brunette in the group seemed to take a fancy to Sheldon; after all, the man was in his tight shirt and jeans, even the boys had commented on his new style; and when Sheldon went up to get another drink the woman followed him, attempting to chat him up at the bar, Sheldon answered vaguely, not putting much effort behind his words, but the girl continued to try for at least half an hour before joining the table again, a little put out.

The girls eventually left to go to another bar, the boys stayed at the Fusion bar, much to Howard's disappointment; but their 'boys only night' didn't last long. Penny strolled through the bar door with a group of her friends, all dressed to impress, what struck Sheldon the most was her plum coloured dress, it was the same colour as his shirt and he couldn't help the smile that crept onto his lips as the girls approached, winking at Penny.

"Hey guys! I didn't expect to see you here!" Of course she knew where they had gone; she had planned to join them all along. Penny quickly introduced her friends to the boys; Howard was quick to buy them drinks, and the boys seemed to pick out which girl they were going to try and get lucky with, just as Penny had planned, Sheldon was left for her to snatch up.

After a couple of drinks, Penny's acting skills came in handy and she played 'fake drunk' to get Sheldon up to dance, which worked and Sheldon allowed the woman to drag him onto the dance floor, the others followed her lead, and soon the whole gang was up dancing around, and after another round of drinks Howard ended up with his tongue down one of the girls throats, and so did Leonard, in an attempt to make Penny jealous. Raj was sat in one of the booths, drinking, and watching Howard.

Whilst everyone's attention was elsewhere, Penny quickly pulled Sheldon out into the enclosed garden area the bar had.

"Penny you look absolutely stunning tonight." Sheldon could finally tell her as the music was quieter. Penny thanked the man, getting closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, pushing the tips of her fingers down the back of Sheldon's jeans, the physicist wriggled, blushing. "P-Penny!" he exclaimed.

"No one is watching." She teased, reaching up to kiss the man's chin. Sheldon tried to relax, lifting Penny's chin and planted a gently kiss on her lips.

"Even if someone was watching, I wouldn't care…I was just surprised that you were putting your hands down my…underwear." Sheldon swallowed, blushing as Penny's hands dug a little deeper. Sheldon gripped the back of Penny's head, this time sliding his tongue into Penny's mouth like she had done earlier; this way of kissing was just too intoxicating, Sheldon couldn't get enough of the woman, and he was trying to hide his arousal, but Penny noticed, pushing her body closer to his.

The two of them eventually stopped kissing, straightening themselves out.

"We should head back to the others." Penny whispered. Sheldon agreed, slapping her on the ass as they approached the bar.

Both were unaware that Leonard had followed them and had just witnessed their act of passion.


End file.
